1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat assembly, and in particular, a seat assembly including an airbag.
2. Background Art
Vehicles today are increasingly equipped with side airbags, which may be in the form of a side air curtain disposed in a headliner of the vehicle, or alternatively, may be an airbag disposed within a vehicle seat assembly. One limitation of airbags that are located within a seat assembly, is that the airbag needs to break through the seating material before it can fully deploy to protect a vehicle occupant. During deployment, such an airbag may encounter foam, or other seat pad materials, and then it may need to traverse a seat trim cover in order to exit the seat assembly. A number of attempts have been made to facilitate deployment of airbags from and through a vehicle seat assembly.
One such device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,610 issued to Higashiura et al. on Oct. 6, 1998. Higashiura et al. describes a seat structure having a side impact airbag apparatus. An airbag may be deployed along one side of the vehicle seat assembly, such that the folded airbag forms a part of the design surface of the seat back. That is, the airbag is not protected by a trim cover or any other seat material. Rather, a portion of the airbag itself forms the outer surface of a side of the seat assembly. One limitation of the seat structure described in Higashiura et al., is that a portion of the airbag is completely unprotected by a seat cover and/or seat pad materials. This portion of the airbag is exposed to the interior of the vehicle, and may be subject to damage. Therefore, a need exists for a seat assembly which protects the airbag when it is not deployed, and yet still allows the airbag to deploy quickly and efficiently through the seat materials.